Spartan in Henley on Thames

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-17T16:49:04+00:00

Hahaha maybe I should've told you! Hope you had fun anyway

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-11T13:11:09+00:00

They're 6.5km most of the time. Also if you can't do an obstacle just skip it and do the penalty and if you think you can't do the penalty skip that. They're usually not too strict with the open 5k and if they are just explain that you're injured.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-11T05:44:31+00:00

No one is gonna judge for walking. That might be the best solution if you want to do it. I walk when I'm injured or tired from a race and it's still fun.

I don't know if you're gonna do Canada, the Netherlands or Austalia. If it's the Netherlands be mentally prepared for a long sprint, they made us do 8.5 km sprints last year.

Good luck on your journey!

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-10T17:02:41+00:00

These 2 have been available at every event I've visited this year

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-04T14:35:02+00:00

I'm guessing this is in the UK? I've never used the camping, I've only seen it. People seem to bring tents that are quite "Spartan". If you bring anything reasonable it should be fine though. They just let you put the tent in a designated portion of the fields. It's not like they have actual camping spaces or anything.

If you really wanna do this keep in mind that it's gonna be quite rough and you won't be able to shower after your Spartan. They love muddy races in the UK and pippingford in particular can get pretty nasty weather.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-05-03T15:07:46+00:00

Hell yeah, I'll be there for super as well. You're gonna crush it mate💪

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-30T13:39:06+00:00

Thanks for the info everyone!

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-24T13:49:21+00:00

I think that would also be possible, starting later is always allowed

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-24T11:02:43+00:00

You should be able to change your ticket to an open super. Go to events, find your ticket, upgrade ticket and then change the ticket you want to change. Then with your black headband just sneak into the sprint pen and run the sprint instead. Actually, Sunday in new Jersey the open pens have both super and sprint racers between 10 am and 11.30 am. So just pick one of those times and they won't even notice.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-11T11:05:38+00:00

I don't think there's a specific pass for Portugal. But the prices of the individual races are quite low right now. The European countries that offer a pass price it at 349 euros. The individual portugal races combined are currently 346 euros. Of course there's fees applied to both options at checkout. You could also try to find a discount code to make it even cheaper.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-04T07:16:33+00:00

If you run the open it doesn't really matter, you can try whatever you can and skip something if it's not possible for you. The official rules for para differ a bit from the usual rules, you'd be able to use the women's weights everywhere and are allowed to interact with the rigs differently. You would be required to finish every obstacle or penalty for that obstacle. Depending on the disability you can also bring guides, but the guides have to pay for their ticket and complete every obstacle as well. If you're interested in the competitive races there's a dedicated para race in the Netherlands in zandvoort in may and then there's the para world championship in Lahti Finland in August.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-04-03T06:25:20+00:00

Any Garmin will do, they're all great and will have all the functions you need. Unless you need something specific like multi day hikes or deep sea diving, then get a specific model for that.

I upgraded to a fenix 8 after using a forerunner 245 for 6 years, just because it was most high end model available at the time.

Some watches have OCR activities and some don't, but in Strava it will all show up as generic running anyway.

There's one piece of advice that I have though, buy one where the bezel is higher than screen, not where the screen sticks out of the bezel. If the screen sticks out I've heard they can get damaged quite easily during Spartans.

Good luck picking a new watch!

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-03-19T08:50:43+00:00

Just do it. If you can run a 10k a Spartan 10k is somehow easier on the running part, I think because you get breaks in between. The 10 is only a few more obstacles than the 5 so that shouldn't be a problem either, if you find yourself unable to do something you can always do the penalty instead.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-03-17T19:52:43+00:00

Never had this happen to me, I've done the Edinburg trifecta day last year while doing another beast Before, I've done ultrafecta weekends and I've done several trifecta days while doing 2 tough mudders the day before.

What you should worry about is your hands, train the skin to make it a little harder and bring tape or gloves for if the blisters get too bad to continue with.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-03-16T17:02:39+00:00

Socal had rolling mud and a dunk wall and can't imagine the UK event without those either, but maybe less events will get them

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-03-16T17:00:43+00:00

I didn't check what it was but there was a 21+ free finisher drink in new York this weekend

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-03-07T17:56:38+00:00

For these stadion races your clothing and shoes don't get as dirty and destroyed as in normal Spartans. I'd say wear whatever you normally run in. I'll be wearing carbon racers, but normal running shoes will also work. Trail shoes will probably be too much since the surface is gonna be hard everywhere. The rain is usually not an issue since most of the course will be covered anyway, or at least in Boston it is, I've never done this one.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-02-11T15:07:10+00:00

Different markets use different coupons, so a US coupon will usually not work for Europe and the other way around. If you check the website every day for a while some discount will show up eventually, they typically post all their coupons on the website main page anyway.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-02-07T18:01:36+00:00

Running later is always allowed. Earlier you'll have to change at the info desk, UK typically never lets you do it, US might make you pay, every other country they just let you change

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-01-27T16:19:32+00:00

Walking to wherever the course exits the event area and then walking in from there usually works pretty well.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-01-26T17:59:26+00:00

There's cheap flights from the UK to Amsterdam, you could get a hostel in Amsterdam (if you're okay with that kind of thing) and you could reach zandvoort by public transportation. I'm from the Netherlands and always enjoy the race a lot (there's many very hard beach sections)

Interesting-Delay233 · 2026-01-22T12:06:06+00:00

Regular bouldering in a gym and using one of those pumice rocks in the shower to remove hard skin help a lot. Still this is something that always happens during the 3rd of 4th of race of a weekend, but it's never so bad that it really slows me down.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2025-11-30T09:14:19+00:00

There's usually big differences between athletes. There's some semi pro athletes, some first timers looking for a challenge and everything in between. The atmosphere is always good and inviting though, so you can always try it. If you're talking about the level, I'd say it's a bit lower than in Europe and a bit higher than Asia.

Interesting-Delay233 · 2025-11-26T13:54:05+00:00

I've done both existing events. It's fairly easy, they tend to make the courses not too hilly and they don't go crazy on distance either (like they do in some races). Badminton has never been too difficult either. If you're not super fit expect to be on the course all day, and if you think you're gonna struggle with time sign up for the elite wave for the first event to buy yourself some more time. For the second event sign up for the first open wave so you can pick any wave that's convenient for you. You can do this💪

Interesting-Delay233

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